BB: CCIW: College Conference of Illinois and Wisconsin

[TitanRailer]

To date, here at the statistics for the eight CCIW teams, based on each schools website.  I even updated Elmhursts stats after 3 weekend games with Wash U.

North Central (1-2), ERA 4.76, team BA .303

Those numbers don't reflect North Central's Arizona trip. The Arizona results are now posted on the NCC website. The Cardinals are now 4-6, with a team ERA of 6.70 and a team BA of .287.

Their team ERA could be worse than it actually is. The Cards had their jocks handed to them by top-ranked College of New Jersey, 23-4, and they also gave up double-digit runs to Johns Hopkins (17-5) and Williams (10-0). The 19 errors committed by the Napervillains in their first ten games have helped keep that team ERA below the stratosphere to a merely Rockies-bad level.

Early-season statistics are inherently deceptive, because CCIW teams play wildy varying levels of non-conference competition. North Central's played some very tough opponents -- College of New Jersey roughs up everybody, although the Cards were one of their most humiliated victims, and Johns Hopkins (12-3-1) and Williams (6-3) are off to good starts. I'm not sure that there's much to be gained from simply posting team stats at this early stage, since comparisons can be deceiving without knowing the caliber of the opposition for each respective CCIW team.

Perhaps it will be a little easier to gauge Elmhurst if you look at the records of the teams that the 'jays have played thus far:

Macalester (lost to and tied Elmhurst), 6-4
St. Olaf (split with Elmhurst), 5-2
Hanover (split with Elmhurst), 9-4
Rhodes (beat Elmhurst), 17-8
Washington MO (lost two of three to Elmhurst), 17-4
Coe (beat Elmhurst), 10-8

All six teams that have played the 'jays have winning records, and they own a cumulative 64-30 mark. Elmhurst has gone 5-5 against those six teams, scoring only four fewer runs (56-60) than those opponents. It appears at first blush that Elmhurst has held its own against some solid competition.

Mr. Sager - you are correct that your look is a first blush.  Since you wanted to throw opponents into the mix, here you go:

                             Record     Opp Rec       Runs-RunsAgainst
Carthage                7-4         61-42            60-26
IWU                        8-3         92-53            73-53
Augustana             10-2        59-62            90-58
Elmhurst                 5-5         64-30            56-50

Elmhurst is average (.500) against good competition.  Carthage and IWU are great against very stiff competition, Augie opponents not that great, but they are winning.  In addition, Elmhurst has worst ERA among these schools, worst record, worst BA, yet, they are ranked above IWU.  No way you cut it makes any sense.  That is why these polls are meaningless this early in the season and I question who votes in them.

I do agree that pre-conference stats serve little purpose, but I am having trouble understanding why a .500 team in Elmhurst is getting attention as a contender when they haven't done anything accept win HALF their games. 

I guess the voters believe they can go far into the post-season as well...

[REDMENFAN]

Thought some D-3 fans might be interested in this. I was watching a brewers spring training game monday night and Vinny Rottino flied out deep to end the game. Rottino is a UW-Lacrosse grad, and grew up in Racine, WI. He is currently hitting .455 during spring training games, and is playing in triple A this year. The announcers said this undrafted kid will definately be a major leaguer in the near future!! Vinny Works out at Carthage College all winter long and hits live against their pitchers as well as helps out with Christmas baseball camps. He is one of the nicest guys I've met and nobody works harder. He was in the weight room daily at 7 a.m. with Scott Roehl (Double A pitcher in the cleveland system from Kenosha) every day.

[BigPoppa]

One great thing about having big league/minor league players in for workouts is it shows your current guys just how hard they need to work to be successful in the game.

[Gregory Sager]

Nice research, TitanRailer. It helps flesh out the records of the CCIW contenders by showing their strength of schedule.

[BigPoppa]

Carthage wins their home opener today 3-1 over Cardinal Stritch... It looks as though the Carthage bats struggled a bit today by only scoring 3 runs versus a 1-12 team that is giving up an average of over 8 runs per game. Hopefully, it was a fluke and Carthage gets the bats rolling against North Central this weekend.

No other scores have been reported yet.


Cardinal Stritch....  000 001 000 -  1  7  2
Carthage............   020 000 10X -  3  7  1

[augie_superfan]

Augustana beat Loras today 10-1.  Augustana goes to 11-2 and Loras drops to 7-11-1.  Augustana's Andrew Gwost (2-0)  picked up the win.  Augie's pitchers only gave up 5 hits in the 9 inning game.  Augie had 12 hits.

[REDMENFAN]

Yes, the Carthage bats were dead. Cardinal Stritch had a guy throwing i'm guessing that honestly topped out at 70... if that.  There was almost an arc on his fastball on the way to home plate.  Everyone that's played knows when you face a guy like that, you get to agressive and try hitting the ball out of the park every swing instead of using your normal approach.  Hopefully Carthage can get the bats going this weekend against NC. (By the way, Augie had some absolute classic lines that made me along with some other former players who were standing by the dugout just completely crack up!)

[Dirty Dozen]

I had a chance to get out and see Elmhurst play today.  I realize they were only playing Concordia today, but I must admit.....I was very impressed with their team.  They played errorless defense.  Coach Jones ran out six pitchers today who all looked very impressive.  I didn't expect to see a very strong offense in looking at their stats but after watching them swing the bats today and run the bases, they looked pretty good.  (3 home runs were hit and they were very aggressive on the basepaths hitting and running, stealing, and taking the extra base)  Once again, I'm not going to get too excited because it was only Concordia, but to me it looks like they have the makings of a contending team.  Augustana is coming to town on Saturday so we'll see how they stack up.  A lot of us thought originally that the CCIW may be down this year.  From all indications, the league looks pretty strong as it always is.

[BigPoppa]

Augie vs. Elmhurst should be a good matchup... Elmhurst has a .500 record against top notch opponents and Augie has a great record against below average teams. I have a feeling that they are much more evenly matched than everyone thinks. The next two weeks will give us a chance to sort out the contenders from the pretenders.

IWU vs Wheaton... IWU should sweep this one 3-0

Millikin vs North Park... Millikin wins this series 2-1

Augie vs Elmhurst... Elmhurst 2-1

Carthage vs North Central... Carthage 3-0

Thoughts?

[REDMENFAN]

My only switch would be that Augie takes the series 2-1 over Elmhurst.

[BigPoppa]

Augie/Elmhurst is a series that could either way... It should give us an idea of where these two teams really stand.

[TitanRailer]

Augie vs. Elmhurst should be a good matchup... Elmhurst has a .500 record against top notch opponents and Augie has a great record against below average teams. I have a feeling that they are much more evenly matched than everyone thinks. The next two weeks will give us a chance to sort out the contenders from the pretenders.

IWU vs Wheaton... IWU should sweep this one 3-0

Millikin vs North Park... Millikin wins this series 2-1

Augie vs Elmhurst... Elmhurst 2-1

Carthage vs North Central... Carthage 3-0

Thoughts?

IWU over Wheaton 3-0

Millikin over North Park 3-0

Augie over Elmhurst 3-0

Carthage over North Central 3-0

[REDMENFAN]

"IWU over Wheaton 3-0
Millikin over North Park 3-0
Augie over Elmhurst 3-0
Carthage over North Central 3-0 "

That would be something. A sweep in the CCIW isn't  easy, no matter who you are playing. I know Carthage two years ago was losing a game to north park 9-1 through 3 innings before finally waking up. I would be very surprised if all the series were sweeps, especially the Augie/Elmhurst series.

[BigPoppa]

What's the story with Millikin? Are they the as good as their record indicates? It looks like they beat up on some teams down south, but lost to some of the better teams they faced.

It certainly seems as if they are swinging it a bit more than in the past.

[BLUEJAYFAITHFUL]

Hey Sweetness:

You sound down on Coach Jones?  In his defense, it's early on in the season.  Do you think he may be trying to learn a little more about his team and what his reserves can do?  How will he ever know about what his reserves can do unless he plays them in these games?   It's the 2nd game on a 9 game swing.  There's a lot of baseball left.  Lighten up.  Oh by the way, what doesn't show up in the box score, those reserves crushed the ball right at people including Matt Brauer who hit a missle right at the 3B in the 7th (I was told they played 2-7 inning games so it couldn't have been the 9th)  In addition, Pat Meginniss, Travis Cox, and Brett Lilley hit the ball very hard too and had nothing to show for it.  Is that Coach Jones's fault?  I heard his starting pitching in that game (and I don't know who it was?) was continuously not getting ahead of hitters, walked some guys, and had a lot of 3 ball counts.  Is that Coach Jones's fault?   Nick Ferrin who has been a very reliable and steady pitcher for the Jays came in in relief of the starter and hit his first batter he faced.  Was it the reserves fault those pitchers weren't ahead of hitters and Ferrin hit a batter who eventually scored?

I think you should be happy the Jays have a coach who has enough balls to play his reserves every now and then to give them a chance.  In the long run, won't they be better off if the Bluejays have a strong bench?  Coach Jones probably already has a good idea of what his starters can do.

Hang in there.  Coach Jones is a veteran Coach, has been around the block and knows what he's doing.  The Jays have a strong club and playing the reserves now when he can will only strengthen their team in the long run.   So chill bro - it aint the end of the world.